Pants/Slacks/Jeans with Personal Hygiene Pocket

ABSTRACT

A pair of women&#39;s or ladies&#39; pants, e.g., slacks or blue jeans, are provided with a small pocket sewn onto the pocket facing of one of the side pockets or front pockets, and configured to accommodate a feminine hygiene product such as a tampon. The personal pocket allows the personal hygiene product to be carried discreetly concealed, but readily available when needed. The personal pocket is oriented so as to align the tampon comfortably with the natural crease formed by the wearer&#39;s upper leg and torso, and may optionally have a closure.

The invention is related to women's slacks, to include pants, jeans,Capris, shorts and other similar clothing articles, and is morespecifically directed to such apparel with a personal hygiene pocketaffixed thereto.

Women regularly need to use a tampon and to keep a spare tampon withthem so it is available. Often she may need to have another personalhygiene product of about the same dimension. In a casual setting, wherethe woman is wearing jeans, slacks, or shorts, she may not be carrying apurse or bag with room enough for the spare tampon or other personalhygiene item. Rather, many women in these casual settings only carrycellular phone and a small wallet to hold credit cards, driver'slicense, and a small amount of currency. There is a need for a stylish,unobtrusive way to carry such item(s) where the tampon or other personalhygiene item can be easily accessed when needed, and without obstructingnormal movements when walking, standing, or sitting.

Our solution to the foregoing is to position a tampon pocket, ofsuitable dimensions and orientation, onto the existing side pocket (orpockets) of a pair of women's pants, e.g., casual slacks, jeans, Caprisor shorts.

Typically, a tampon may be encased in a tubular applicator, i.e., acardboard or plastic tube, and wrapped in a sealed, sanitary paperwrapper sleeve. These packages may be about 4 to 5 inches long and about¾ inch in diameter. Some tampons come in an extendible applicator,shorter than those discussed just above, but up to an inch in diameter.Digital tampons are similar, but do not have an applicator or wrappersleeve. The tampon pocket is designed to hold any of these. The tamponpocket serves as a place for the woman to keep the tampon or otherhygiene product. The article will be handy, but not obvious norobtrusive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A personal pocket for a personal hygiene product is favorablyconstructed of the same cloth material as the slacks or jeans, and issewn onto the front (or side) pocket. The personal pocket is favorablyabout five (5) inches long and one-and-one-half (1½) inches wide (thiscan vary) and is oriented at about a 45° angle relative to the waistband of the slacks or jeans, and spaced inward from the side seam. Theangle can vary but should be favorably withing ±15° of 45°, and normallyabout 40 to 50°. The bottom end of the personal pocket is sewn into thebottom edge of the pants pocket facing, and the sides are SGL needleedge-stitched to the pocket facing. The upper end is left open.

The orientation allows for the tampon or similarly shaped anddimensioned article to be stored in the pocket and also allows the userto sit comfortably as the angle aligns generally with the natural creaseformed between torso and upper leg.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a side view of the personal pocket of an embodiment of thisinvention sewn onto the pocket facing of a side pocket of a pair ofslacks or jeans.

FIG. 2 illustrates the personal pocket positioned in the front or sidepocket of a pair of jeans.

FIG. 3 shows the personal pocket on the pair of jeans, with a personalhygiene product being inserted or removed.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of a pair of ladies' blue jeans that showsthe personal pocket of this invention embodied therein.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are alternative embodiments of the personal pocket of thisinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to the Drawing, the personal pocket 10 is shown in FIG. 1as a rectangular piece 22 of cloth sewn at a given angle (approximately45°) onto a pocket facing 20 for a pair of ladies' slacks or jeans. Therectangular piece is sewn around its side edges and its lower edge whichis aligned with the lower or inner edge 24 of the pocket facing 20. Anupper edge 12 is open. The resulting personal pocket 10 is about 5inches (12.7 cm) in length with a width of about 1½ inches (3.8 cm). Thelength and width can vary from these dimensions, but should besufficient size to hold a standard tampon, in its individual case andpackaging.

As seen in FIG. 2, the pocket 10 should be positioned within the frontpocket 16 of the jeans 14 (or other ladies' pants), so that the openupper edge 12 is above the front of the pocket near the waistband 18,and at an angle relative to the waistband 18.

As seen in FIG. 3, the personal pocket 10 is configured to hold astandard-size tampon 30 (or other personal hygiene item) with its wrapor packaging, with enough room so that it can be easily inserted intothe pocket or removed from the pocket 10. When inserted into thepersonal pocket 10, the tampon 30 is oriented so that it aligns with anatural crease that forms between the wearer's upper leg and her torso,which is an optimal position not to interfere with the wearer's sitting,standing, or walking. The pocket 10 is also long enough to completelyconceal the tampon 30 so that it is not noticeable.

As shown in FIG. 4, the personal pocket 10 may have a square upper edge12, but other embodiments may have a different shape. Also FIG. 4 showsthe pocket 10 oriented at a given angle θ, which may favorably be about45 degrees from the vertical and 45 degrees relative to the waistband18, which represents the horizontal. This angle θ can vary depending onthe cut or style of the pants, but should match the angle at which thewearer's upper leg and torso or abdomen meet so as to follow the naturalcrease as discussed before. As shown in FIG. 5, an alternative personalpocket 110 is shown with a concave or scalloped upper edge 112, and inFIG. 6 another alternative personal pocket 210 is shown with a convexcurved or tab upper edge 212. The length and width of the personalpockets may vary, with the width between about one-and-one-half andtwo-and-one half inches and the length between about four-and-one-halfand six-and-one-half inches. This may vary depending on the stiffiess ofthe material and other factors. The pocket 10, 110, 210 etc., may have aclosure such as a snap or hook-and-loop material.

While this invention is shown here with respect to a preferredembodiment, the invention should not be limited to that embodiment, butthe scope of this invention is to be measured in terms of the appendedclaims.

We claim:
 1. A pair of women's slacks or jeans formed of a fabric andcomprising a waist band and at least one side pocket, the side pockethaving a pocket-facing formed of said fabric and having a lower edge;and a personal pocket configured to removably hold a packaged personalhygiene item; the pocket being formed of said fabric, and beingdimensioned substantially 5 inches long and 1½ inches wide, and havingsides and a lower edge sewn onto said pocket-facing and oriented at apredetermined angle relative to said waistband.
 2. The women's slacks orjeans of claim 1 wherein said personal pocket is oriented between 40 and50 degrees relative to said waistband.
 3. The women's slacks or jeans ofclaim 1 wherein said personal pocket is oriented at substantially 45degrees relative to said waistband.
 4. The women's slacks or jeans ofclaim 1 wherein the lower edge of said personal pocket is substantiallyaligned with the lower edge of said pocket-facing.